A resounding crack echoed through the cavern. The ground cracked underneath, a blinding ray of light flashing through the darkness.
Li stumbled from the impact, his body frozen stiff as he heard the crack. Felt the outpour of Qi from his brother’s dantian as it shattered into pieces.
A single strike.
All it had taken was a single strike, to destroy years of training, and cultivation. To shatter everything they had been working towards. His eyes remained pinned upon his brother’s form, as the boy slid down the cracked walls, and slumped down to the floor.
Li turned slowly to face the boy. Watched the flames swirling in a dancing inferno of death.Two golden rings swirled inside the boy’s pitch black eyes, the fury inside scraping raw terror from Li’s soul.
“Demon,” Li hissed, unable to hold himself back. There was no Gu that he could sense, yet the sheer terror inflicting upon him the boy’s gaze had no other description that he could give.
The boy stepped forward, wisps of white and gold swirling around his fists. Li reached within his chest, to the terror that stemmed within his heart and drowned it in rage. The lightning Qi in his core raged. It wished to lash out, to incinerate everything within its path, and today, Li would let it. There were no words exchanged. With a pulse of thunder Qi, Li kicked off.
“I am going to kill you!” the boy roared, lightning coating his fists as he moved. His fist shot towards the boy’s gut, lightning covering them as he moved within an eye blink. In a motion almost too fast for him to see, the boy turned to the side. A fist descended on Li’s skull.
The blow sent him flying into the wall, the walls collapsing around him. Li pushed through the pile of rocks, trying to free himself. But before he could escape, the boy took another step, arriving right in front of him.
A hand reached out, grabbing him by the throat as Li was raised up into the air. He grabbed upon the hand, clawing to free himself. His legs dangled, thrashing as his eyes stared into the swirling black pools inside the boy’s eyes, and the ring of gold contained within them.
With a silent turn, Li felt himself being pulled back, before he was tossed like a child. He screamed, Qi flooding his feet, as his arms pulled up, ready to take on the impact. The ground met his face soon, as Li tumbled, crashing into a tree outside the cavern.
Groaning in pain, he coughed out blood, quickly pulling himself to his feet. Quickly, he dug into the pouch, taking out a pill that he bit between his teeth.
The trees rustled around Li, as a figure walked through them. The boy was silent, eerily silent as he walked forward.
Li pulled to his feet. His arms shook, trembling without control. Pain wracked his body, the world spinning in his vision.
“You will regret this,” Li snarled back, spitting out a broken tooth. “Hurt me all you want. Elder Yan is going to kill you for crippling Lei. He will lash you till you die crying like a pig for slaughter in front of the whole sect, before he kills that spirit of yours and your entire family.”
The boy stood in silence, staring upon him. A moment later, an almost distant voice echoed from his mouth. “Is that all?”
“What?” Li muttered, taken aback at the remark.
In a blink the boy moved, a hand slamming his chest as he was knocked into a tree. “Is that all?” the boy growled, his voice rippling with a crack.
Li gasped for air, as tears filled his eyes. He gagged as the boy’s intense gaze held him place.
“Because, I am going to do so much more.”
Wisps of white and black flames gathered around the boy’s hand, and Li screamed. A blast had him shooting through the tree set behind his back, flying through the forest.
“Stand, Junior Brother,” a voice echoed through the forest. Li groaned, turning over as he looked forward. “Stand and fight me. It has been months since we last sparred. Let us trade pointers,” the boy said, walking closer.
Li coughed, the hair pin on his head falling as a disarray of hair strands covered his vision. His eyes widened as a long forgotten memory returned upon him. A spar where he had fought a weakling, trying to practice his new technique to aim at the head.
“Y-you… how?” Li’s eyes widened, as he pulled himself. “How did you grow so much?” His voice was shaking, fear now fully entrenched in his heart.
“All thanks to your pointer's junior brother. If it wasn’t for you, I would have never woken up,” the boy said, and Li almost sensed a kindness in the voice. Yet the boy’s expression was still as empty as ever, his dark eyes burning with raw fury. A shudder ran down his back.
“Y-you will regret this,” Li stammered, gathering his Qi. His body was aching, bones broken and insides bleeding. There was no way for him to win this match. All he could do was try to buy some time.
“Make me,” the boy said.
Li stared blankly, with his fists raised.
“Make me regret my choices Li. Avenge your brother. Or do you not care for him either?”
A strand of fury passed from Li’s chest as the image of his brother came upon him, but the fear for his own life won out.
“Strike me. Strike me with everything you have. I will not move. I swear this on my Path.” the boy said, standing with his gaze fixed intently upon Li. A pulse traveled through the world at his words.
Li grinned. “You are a fool. I don’t know how you have achieved such strength, but your arrogance will be your end. For daring to strike against me, and my brother. I will make sure you suffer this strike.”
Lightning Qi pulsed in his core, glowing into his fists. Golden bolts crackled around his body, as Li pushed himself to the edge. His blood boiled, the fury of the phoenix building inside of him. He was less now, less without his brother, but he would not let that stop him.
Golden bolts flew around Li, in a swirling dance of fury, waiting to be released. His fists moved through the air, plucking each bolt out, gathering them in his palms.
Not enough.
He called for more, draining his dantian to the absolute limit. The bolts roared in a frenzy, as he moved faster and faster, gathering them all around his body. The bolt of gold pulsed within his hand, the air crackling with static, as a blinding light grew near Li’s fists.
It was not enough. He needed more, a lot more.
Li’s gaze drifted towards the sky. Storm clouds drifted upon them, rays of sun peeking through from a tempest that had passed. He raised his fists to the sky and called upon the heavens, sending a pulse of Qi up into the sky.
The air vibrated around him, as his bolt shot into the sky. Towards the heavens itself. The bolt of gold flashed, rising like a phoenix of gold, as it crashed into the clouds.
Li panted, standing, as his heart drummed within his chest. The world remained silent for a moment, edges of despair crawling upon his heart that he had failed.
Then the heavens rumbled.
Li barked a laugh, his joy spiking and mingling with seething anger. He would put this peasant into his place. The very heavens were on his side.
The skies turned and rumbled, golden bolts of lightning flashing among them. A tribulation brewed within the air, as the Heavens answered his call.
A brilliant bolt of light flashed down upon Li, the strength of the Heavens flooding his pathways. Bursting through them. He screamed in agony, and exhilaration, as the thunder filled his body.
The words of an art of the Heavens formed within his mouth.
“Heavenly Phoenix’s Strike”
A roaring phoenix of lightning shot out forward, covering the world in heavenly lightning. The ground singed, turning bright red, as the heat caused the air to burn.
“The First Law,” Li heard a voice whisper. “Duality of Chi.”
The world rippled around him. Two orbs of black and white collided. The ground beneath him crackled, a blinding light covering his sight.
Pillars of ghastly flame rose from the ground, consuming his thunder phoenix completely. For a brief moment, Li’s eyes met the golden rings staring at him, and as the pillars of flames swallowed him whole, he realized his folly.
He’d never even posed a threat.
***
Yan Yun felt her heart shuddering, as she watched flames rising into the sky. Ghastly flames of white and black that mingled together. It was terrifying, in a way that she could not fathom, and her heart raced watching the scene.
The scenes had come back into place, as the end of the tournament had approached, and her grandfather had spread his influence to see what was happening for himself. They had watched Li and Lei fight against a spirit. Watched Li lose to La Bi, before she was struck in the back. And the aftermath of it all, when Lu Jie had arrived outside.
She watched Lu Jie walk through a flaming forest, watched him strike Li, as if he were nothing. Just what had happened in there, to change him so much?
For a brief moment, she saw the black demonic eyes of Gu flash around him, and felt her heart shudder. Has he been taken over? Had she condemned Li and Lei to die at a demon’s hands?
Her heart thundered, as her glance shifted around the arena. Most of the mortals, perhaps even the elders would miss it. They had never faced a demon, never truly felt the energy of death, but her grandfather would know. The black flames could not be mistaken to be anything else.
Just what would her grandfather do now? What would Lu Jie do?
She clenched her fists, watching in silence. Only time would tell.
***
I stood amidst an ashen forest when I finally came to. Flames ran rampant around me, the ground cracked and marred black.
The influence of the First Law retreated from me, the golden rings within my eyes fading. I sensed strength leaving my body as my dantian and pathways began to ache.
I stumbled for a moment, before continuing forward. I had been in a trance. A trance of fury and single purpose. A part of me was surprised that I hadn’t killed both the twins right then and there, but another was also glad that I hadn’t.
Despite how much I seethed with hate, despite all of that, I could not justify killing children.
Li twitched on the ground, as I walked towards him. He was still conscious after everything, which took me by surprise.
I stared at his burnt body, half of his head of hair completely gone from where the flames of Gu and Qi had struck him.
“Demon,” the boy rasped, his eyes unfocused.
I kneeled nearby. Many words filled my chest, many things that I wanted to say. Yet nothing felt right. Nothing, after what I had done, would mean anything.
I set my hand to his cracked dantian, and I saw the boy’s eyes widen for a brief moment.
“You will not speak of anything that has happened here,” I said out loud, pressing my hand against his abdomen.
Li nodded silently.
Chi spread from my body, into his core, as a chain formed around his dantian. There was a crack within his core, as the flames of Gu and Qi had infiltrated his spirit and wreaked havoc, but he could still recover over months. Unlike his brother.
Silently, I walked closer and picked up any herbs from the boy’s pouch that weren’t completely destroyed. I only found a single one.
Any care for the boy was gone from my heart by that point as I stood up and turned. Quickly, I made my way back to the cavern, where I had left Labby. And to my surprise, I found Twilight sitting on her head, the little diamond on her forehead glowing.
My eyes drifted back to the girl, sitting on the ground with her abdomen clutched and a gaze of wonder labeled towards me.
“Master, Lab—”
I swept Labby in a hug, before she could say anything, wrapping my hands around her body.
“I’m sorry Labby,” I whispered, grabbing her tightly. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
Labby’s arm gently pressed itself against my back, as she leaned into the hug. “It feels good Master,” she whispered. “Labby can hug you now. It feels good.”
I let Labby rest in my arms for a moment, as I took the opportunity to assess her core. Her dantian was fractured, but thankfully, unlike Zhang, neither had it been ripped out, nor had it completely broken apart.
I sensed strands of Chi binding together broken off pieces, with the roots of the tree within my soul healing the cracks slowly. I smiled, feeling relieved to know that she would be fine.
“Chii!” Twilight, exclaimed, feeling my relief. I laughed out loud, feeling happy to be surrounded by my spirits.
A strange sensation tugged at me. I stood up, surprised at what was happening when a blinding flash of light covered me.
Shouts and cheers slammed me from all directions, as I stumbled,finding myself standing in the center of an arena. A voice echoed around me, announcing the end.
“And the Hunt ends! We have our Winner, Lu Jie!”